NYC Jazz quartet to play the WWU Performing Arts Center April 4
Saxophonist Scott Robinson is bringing his quartet on a Northwest coastal mini-tour including a stop at the WWU Performing Arts Center, where they will play as a guest of the Music Department at Western on April 4 at 7 p.m. in the PAC's Room 16 (the choir room).
The quartet includes Helen Sung (piano/organ), Martin Wind (bass), and Dennis Mackrel (drums); its 2019 album “Tenormore” won "Best New Release of 2019" in the JazzTimes Readers Poll.
The Scott Robinson Quartet has been performing a mix of original music and distinctive interpretations of standard material for about seven years, during which it has developed a strong group rapport and identifiable sound. The band covers a lot of musical territory with creativity and conviction.
Helen Sung is one of today’s finest and most creative pianists; and she, bassist Martin Wind and drummer Dennis Mackrel constitute a brilliant, diverse and highly adaptable rhythm team.
Leader/composer/multi-instrumentalist Scott Robinson has been called “Jazz Futurist, Mad Scientist” in The Wall Street Journal, which reports, “there’s no one else doing anything close to what Mr. Robinson is doing.”
The group’s appearances at Kitano in New York City are routinely sold out. Rochester International Jazz artistic director John Nugent said, “Scott Robinson is arguably one of the finest and most under-rated musicians in the world of jazz…Scott's innate sense of time, rhythm and harmony are in a class of their own, at the highest level and on par with all the greats.”
About Scott Robinson
Scott Robinson has been heard on tenor sax with Buck Clayton's band, on trumpet with Lionel Hampton's quintet, on alto clarinet with Paquito D'Rivera's clarinet quartet, and on bass sax with the New York City Opera. On these and other instruments including theremin and ophicleide, he has been heard with a cross-section of jazz's greats representing nearly every imaginable style of the music, from Braff to Braxton.
Primarily a tenor saxophonist, Scott once placed directly below the great Sonny Rollins in the DownBeat Readers Poll. Scott has been heard numerous times on film, radio and television, and his discography now includes more than 250 recordings. His releases as a leader have garnered five-star reviews from Leonard Feather, DownBeat Magazine and other respected sources worldwide, and have appeared in many "Best of the Year" lists. Scott's collaborators on disc have included Frank Wess, Hank Jones, Joe Lovano, Ron Carter, and Bob Brookmeyer, and he has performed with the Grammy-winning Maria Schneider Orchestra for more than 25 years.
Tickets are $10 for students and $15 for general admission. Tickets are available online at tickets.wwu.edu, by calling 360-650-6146, or at the box office in the Performing Arts Center lobby one hour before the performance begins. All patrons must wear masks. Free parking is available in the C lots off Bill McDonald Parkway. Hourly parking is available in lots closer to the venue. The WTA bus stops directly across from the Performing Arts Center every 15 minutes until 11 p.m.